Comments on: Do the Math. http://teachingtheoutsiders.com/do-the-math/ Middle school teaching: Five shows a day, 180 days a year. Mon, 19 Jul 2010 16:01:50 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc By: mrC http://teachingtheoutsiders.com/do-the-math/comment-page-1/#comment-371 mrC Wed, 12 Aug 2009 21:06:09 +0000 http://teachingtheoutsiders.com/?p=1166#comment-371 Ouch. You also have to remember the audience it was written for. And they love it. And most (pre)teenage boys could benefit from seeing things through a teenage girl's eyes. Nobody sees the inconsistencies and "heavy handedness" more that I do, but that's another reason to do it live. You can show the kids how these things work. It's also another reason we don't watch the movie. It highlights the cheese. Ouch. You also have to remember the audience it was written for. And they love it. And most (pre)teenage boys could benefit from seeing things through a teenage girl’s eyes. Nobody sees the inconsistencies and “heavy handedness” more that I do, but that’s another reason to do it live. You can show the kids how these things work. It’s also another reason we don’t watch the movie. It highlights the cheese.

]]> By: Ted http://teachingtheoutsiders.com/do-the-math/comment-page-1/#comment-370 Ted Wed, 12 Aug 2009 20:04:20 +0000 http://teachingtheoutsiders.com/?p=1166#comment-370 I taught the Outsiders and read it aloud six times in one year, and that was enough. Repeated readings show the heavy hands of the editors, who took a rough script from a teenage girl and sanitized it for mass distribution. The book was obviously written without a plan, as S.E. Hinton has confessed in interviews, and it shows. And as a teenage girl, S.E. Hinton writes all her male characters as teenage girls. So glad I never, ever have to read this "novel" again. I taught the Outsiders and read it aloud six times in one year, and that was enough. Repeated readings show the heavy hands of the editors, who took a rough script from a teenage girl and sanitized it for mass distribution. The book was obviously written without a plan, as S.E. Hinton has confessed in interviews, and it shows. And as a teenage girl, S.E. Hinton writes all her male characters as teenage girls.

So glad I never, ever have to read this “novel” again.

]]> By: mrC http://teachingtheoutsiders.com/do-the-math/comment-page-1/#comment-247 mrC Tue, 02 Jun 2009 03:21:52 +0000 http://teachingtheoutsiders.com/?p=1166#comment-247 You don't read any of it out loud? Oh my...I love reading chapters three and four especially. Granted, I don't read the last part of ch.9 or chapter 10 (too choked up), but I love doling the book out to them in pieces. It's how I hook them at the beginning of the year. You're right that all this proves how well the novel holds up. You don’t read any of it out loud? Oh my…I love reading chapters three and four especially. Granted, I don’t read the last part of ch.9 or chapter 10 (too choked up), but I love doling the book out to them in pieces. It’s how I hook them at the beginning of the year. You’re right that all this proves how well the novel holds up.

]]> By: Mrs. M~ http://teachingtheoutsiders.com/do-the-math/comment-page-1/#comment-245 Mrs. M~ Fri, 29 May 2009 16:34:40 +0000 http://teachingtheoutsiders.com/?p=1166#comment-245 I did the math--scary! 18 years of teaching multiplied by The Outsiders 6 times per day. Add in six very odd years where we had to rotate teams, so I taught it 12 times per year. I do not read it aloud, so I have not read it 154 times, but I have seen or been in the presence of the movie that many times. And I plan to keep going, so that says a lot for the novel . . . I did the math–scary! 18 years of teaching multiplied by The Outsiders 6 times per day. Add in six very odd years where we had to rotate teams, so I taught it 12 times per year. I do not read it aloud, so I have not read it 154 times, but I have seen or been in the presence of the movie that many times. And I plan to keep going, so that says a lot for the novel . . .

]]> By: mrC http://teachingtheoutsiders.com/do-the-math/comment-page-1/#comment-244 mrC Fri, 29 May 2009 03:56:17 +0000 http://teachingtheoutsiders.com/?p=1166#comment-244 OMG! 180! As it is, it takes me a month to remember all their names. In fact, that's another "math fact" I remind them of: "You only have to learn 6 of us, I have to learn 140-150 of you." As incentive for myself, I tell the kids I will give them a dollar if I mess up their name after Halloween. I'd go broke with those kind of numbers. I've only had to pay once, and it was on a technicality; I forgot that a girl had requested that I pronounce her name AHna instead of (gasp) ANna. The class made me pay. OMG! 180! As it is, it takes me a month to remember all their names. In fact, that’s another “math fact” I remind them of: “You only have to learn 6 of us, I have to learn 140-150 of you.” As incentive for myself, I tell the kids I will give them a dollar if I mess up their name after Halloween. I’d go broke with those kind of numbers. I’ve only had to pay once, and it was on a technicality; I forgot that a girl had requested that I pronounce her name AHna instead of (gasp) ANna. The class made me pay.

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